This invention relates generally to sewing-machine jigs for holding accessories while they are being sewn and, more specifically, to jigs for holding skirt hooks or skirt eyes during the process of sewing them onto fabric.
Previous jigs for holding wire accessories, such as belt hooks and eyes, while they are being sewn onto fabric, are not adapted for sewing skirt hooks and eyes, which are stamped from sheet metal. Accessories that are made from sheet metal are more massive and generally have thread holes that are considerably smaller than the holes in the previously-used wire accessories. These holes are arranged in sets of one or more holes with the sets of holes being remote and precisely positioned from each other. A typical skirt eye, for instance, is a dumbbell-shaped piece of sheet metal with the eye formed by a bar that is in a slightly different plane from the wider end portions. A pair of small thread holes is located in each of the wider end portions of the skirt eye. A typical skirt hook is also made from sheet metal and is formed by folding to yield two layers. The upper layer is tongue shaped and the lower layer has three thread-hole sets in an approximately semi-circular arrangement. A pair of small thread holes is located on a third extension midway between the others on the arc of the semicircle. This three-point configuration gives the skirt hook the required stability to prevent the end of the hook from lifting away from the fabric when the skirt hook is interlocked with the skirt eye while on a garment.
In prior jigs, the position of the jig is under the control of the sewing machine and requires the machine to be set up and maintained for a single type accessory. It is desirable to provide a jig whose position can be under the control of the operator.
In co-pending application Ser. No. 486,799, U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,704 a jig is disclosed having a marker arm to align one set of holes, on an accessory, with the needle, thereby assuring that predetermined adjustments of the jig will align the needle with the other thread holes in the accessory. A drawback to this alignment system is that the needle and its supporting hardware prevent straight ahead viewing by the operator and thus hinder alignment of the needle with the thread hole sets. In addition, the device disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 486,799, U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,704 requires replacement of the jig when alternating from sewing one accessory to sewing another, e.g. when sewing skirt hooks after sewing skirt eyes.